Miami (was fantastic).

We had a blast in Miami. It was definitely the right choice for traveling with our son. Bowie was a champ both ways on the airplane, which was the first victory of our vacation. The second victory was our awesome airbnb. We stayed in the Biscayne neighborhood, which is near Little Haiti and is in the process of being gentrified. I'm not here to expound on my opinions of gentrification but in this case it meant we were in a super colorful and exotic part of town where we also had quick access to Whole Foods, vintage shopping and a bunch of good places to eat. Our airbnb hosts welcomed us with wine and fresh fruit and it was an awesome duplex with absolutely everything we needed (including a washer/dryer and towels!)

 

Welcome gifts and letter from our hosts.

Toys for Bowie in addition to a pack and play and high chair supplied by our airbnb hosts.

 

Bowie's Miami hair was extra curly and awesome the whole trip.

Another victory of our vacation was the AMAZING food. Cuban food was a favorite for all as well as fresh squeezed juice, freshly caught stone crab, key lime pie, French pastries and gourmet hotdogs.

 

Bowie rocking a banana shake, plantains and part of a medianoche sandwich at Three Palms Cuban Cafe.



Cuban coffee and sandwiches. Damn straight.

More Cuban coffee and for Bowie fresh squeezed mango juice at Café Versailles.

Cortados will mess you up with caffeine!

Gourmet hotdogs from Dogma. This one had potato chips and pineapple among other things...

Bowie's clear favorite part of the trip was swimming in the ocean. Once he figured it out he was an ocean kamikaze. No fear and only eyes for getting out deep. He loved the waves and being held in a swimming position. I think we did well to get him swimming lessons for Christmas. We managed to swim every day. Our favorite beach was Bill Biggs state park. It was clean with great waves, a long white sand beach, a light house, minimal jelly fish and was warm.

 

 

The only bummer of our trip was the day we drove to the keys. It was bumper to bumper traffic the whole way and the drive took a little over twice what it normally does. Once we got to the keys we paid to enter a state park only to find out once we got in that it was full. We looked hard for a restaurant where we quick had some tropical drinks and sea food before high tailing it back to Miami. What a bummer.

 

 

Wild peacocks at the state park. Who knew?

We rang in the new year by starting our day in South Beach exploring the art deco hotels. Afterwards we picked up stone crab and champagne and watched HBO Go at the airbnb. We were able to sneak down the block for some quick fantastic cocktails at a new Italian restaurant, too. Not too shabby.

 

 

Ringing in the new year with Italians in tuxedos.

Here is Bowie looking extra cute. We called him Mister Miami.

 

 

Fun trip, but somebody was ready to go home.

Family Photos: Bowie at 1.5 years

The lovely and talented Angela Rabbitt took our family photos at the Cold Water Spring near Fort Snelling. We were fortunate to photograph on the last warm day of the season and the timing was perfect for her to capture the setting sunlight. These photos are great because Bowie is at that age where he's just a blur and I'm very glad she was able to capture him as he is at one and a half. What's even more amazing is that throughout this shoot he was actually super cranky and having meltdowns related to wanting to jump in the river. Angela was a pro to work with that. You can't even tell what a stinker he was!

We got ourselves a bathroom!

If you've been following our adventures then you've probably heard that we did a bathroom renovation. We decided that because we only have one, tiny bathroom in our home that we might as well make it amazing. It took 10 days, rearranging our home, moving Bowie upstairs with us to avoid the dust, showering at Mark and Alyssa's house, some rowdy punk rockers, dry shampoo and thankfully warm weather to bath Bowie in a Tupperware container in the backyard but it was so worth it.

I am semi-mad at myself for not taking "before" photos but just imagine salmon pink tile on the walls (some with a decorative squiggle line and some without), a clunky wooden vanity that held a square sink and filth and grime that has accumulated since the house was built in the 1920s.

We were so thankful to hear about Cory Crust at Upper Crust Finishes through a friend's recommendation. He is the real deal. His attention to detail was incredible, he had great ideas based on his years of experience and he was the nicest person to have in our home. Bowie thought he, his tool ands his truck were the coolest.

 

So without further adieu here are our "after" photos:

The tile is amazing.

New shelving built into the wall. The tile is, again, amazing.

All new everything. *sigh*

 

New light fixtures.

Cool custom shelving over the (newly spray painted) radiator. That will keep the hand towel warm and toasty!

In love with these handles.

Awww. Did you ever think a toilet seat could be so cute?



We took an awesome door from our basement and moved it to the bathroom. So pretty.